Author Topic: ShutterStock 7th Birthday (Read 8402 times)

dnavarrojr · « **on:** July 13, 2010, 12:25 »

Happy birthday, I guess. One thing left out of the timeline on their post is "Bought by Getty and abandoned all that ShutterStock originally stood for".

disorderly · « **Reply #1 on:** July 13, 2010, 12:55 »

An excellent point. Except for the fact that Getty didn't buy Shutterstock. No one has; they're still under the original ownership.

lisafx · « **Reply #2 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:08 »

Congrats to SS!! Hope the decide to celebrate by giving us a raise!

WarrenPrice · « **Reply #3 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:10 »

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:08

Congrats to SS!! Hope the decide to celebrate by giving us a raise!

It's their birthday. Aren't we supposed to Give rather than Receive?

PS: I'm really running off at the mouth (keyboard) today. Must be these excellent pain pills?

lisafx · « **Reply #4 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:13 »

Quote from: WarrenPrice on July 13, 2010, 13:10

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:08
Congrats to SS!! Hope the decide to celebrate by giving us a raise!

It's their birthday. Aren't we supposed to Give rather than Receive?

PS: I'm really running off at the mouth (keyboard) today. Must be these excellent pain pills?

Sound like nice pills, Warren. I'll have some of what you're having

dnavarrojr · « **Reply #5 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:15 »

Quote from: disorderly on July 13, 2010, 12:55

An excellent point. Except for the fact that Getty didn't buy Shutterstock. No one has; they're still under the original ownership.

Ahh, yes, it was iStock that was bought my Getty.

Still, ShutterStock originally was an advocate of photographers and graphics designers. They severely lost their way...

Microbius · « **Reply #6 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:17 »

Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 13, 2010, 13:15

Ahh, yes, it was iStock that was bought my Getty.

I'd ask for it back if I were you!

picomatic · « **Reply #7 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:21 »

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:08

Congrats to SS!! Hope the decide to celebrate by giving us a raise!

YEA , and a raise on video would be nice since they take more than most others !

lisafx · « **Reply #8 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:27 »

Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 13, 2010, 13:15

Still, ShutterStock originally was an advocate of photographers and graphics designers. They severely lost their way...

How have they lost their way??

cthoman · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:29 »

Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 13, 2010, 13:15

Still, ShutterStock originally was an advocate of photographers and graphics designers. They severely lost their way...

You're not invited to the party and you don't get any cake.

michaeldb · « **Reply #10 on:** July 13, 2010, 13:36 »

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:27

Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 13, 2010, 13:15

Still, ShutterStock originally was an advocate of photographers and graphics designers. They severely lost their way...

How have they lost their way??

They stopped giving raises (such as the one you requested and which, I am sorry to say, I doubt we get).

disorderly · « **Reply #11 on:** July 13, 2010, 14:00 »

Quote from: michaeldb on July 13, 2010, 13:36

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:27
Quote from: dnavarrojr on July 13, 2010, 13:15

Still, ShutterStock originally was an advocate of photographers and graphics designers. They severely lost their way...

How have they lost their way??
They stopped giving raises (such as the one you requested and which, I am sorry to say, I doubt we get).

Given the economy, I can't say that's a surprise. And most of us can look forward to commission increases as our total sales reach certain thresholds. In any event, that's not losing your way. Shutterstock still operates as it always has, treating its suppliers with consideration and not dropping unpleasant news on us on a regular basis. They aren't the ones who lower commissions or raise thresholds out of sight. Heck, the way they updated their submission interface, and especially how they've simplified attaching releases to images, is one of the most considerate actions I've seen an agency take in quite some time. SS is still my favorite site, and not just because it's my best earner.

cathyslife · « **Reply #12 on:** July 13, 2010, 14:10 »

Quote from: disorderly on July 13, 2010, 14:00

Given the economy, I can't say that's a surprise. And most of us can look forward to commission increases as our total sales reach certain thresholds. In any event, that's not losing your way. Shutterstock still operates as it always has, treating its suppliers with consideration and not dropping unpleasant news on us on a regular basis. They aren't the ones who lower commissions or raise thresholds out of sight. Heck, the way they updated their submission interface, and especially how they've simplified attaching releases to images, is one of the most considerate actions I've seen an agency take in quite some time. SS is still my favorite site, and not just because it's my best earner.

I feel the same way about Shutterstock. They are not my best earner but they are a great site. They aren't constantly dinking around with their site (I think it works pretty good the way it is) and there are no big crises every time you turn around.

Happy Birthday Shutterstock! I hope to see you around for at least 7 more years!

lisafx · « **Reply #13 on:** July 13, 2010, 14:31 »

I'm with Disorderly and Cathy. I don't see any problem with SS.

Yeah, I think a raise is overdue. Or at least a higher level to look forward to since I have been on the current one for years and there is none other above it.

But that is a far cry from "losing their way". Still hoping that dnavarrojr can explain what he meant...?

sharpshot · « **Reply #14 on:** July 13, 2010, 15:20 »

They are my favourite microstock site but they could do better. I remember when they raised prices, we didn't get a proportionate raise. I would like to get an exact percentage of the sales, does anyone here know what commission we actually get from subs?

They could do a lot more with footage. Pond5 and istock are selling more of my video clips. Not sure why they can't get it right.

I would also like them to come up with an exclusive images option, and ways to sell at higher prices.

Dreamframer · « **Reply #15 on:** July 13, 2010, 15:22 »

Celebrating birthday in my country looks much different than in USA. Here, the one who celebrates the birthday pays for all food and drinks his/her friends had.
So, friends just give presents to the one who celebrates, and eat and drinks as much as they can, without thinking how much is it going to cost, lol.
So, once in a year, everyone is going home after party with bunch of deodorants, shaving foams and other things that he/she don't really need at the moment, and with empty pockets. But all other times (depending on how much friends one has), people are going home with full stomach, and drunk.

lisafx · « **Reply #16 on:** July 13, 2010, 16:03 »

Quote from: Dreamframer on July 13, 2010, 15:22

Celebrating birthday in my country looks much different than in USA. Here, the one who celebrates the birthday pays for all food and drinks his/her friends had.

Ouch!! Getting older is bad enough without having to go broke too!

dnavarrojr · « **Reply #17 on:** July 13, 2010, 23:11 »

I feel as though the site originally was all about promoting online stock content creators. Their split was much more fair. And they I feel as though they understood more that "different" wasn't a bad thing.

What I don't like...? Their low commission rates, specifically on video. They allow a buyer to DOWNLOAD an item and then get a refund because they don't like it or "made a mistake". They train their video reviewers to judge footage on the same criteria as photos. They are TWO DIFFERENT markets. They don't seem to understand that. I have clips that have sold greater than 100 times across other sites that have been rejected as "unsellable" by SS. Lighting issues, focus issues I can understand. But their video reviewers are rejecting video without understanding anything about the video market. And when you try to explain it to them, they ignore you.

The site is all about making money for SS and not about the content creators any more. And it's certainly not anywhere near as bad as iStock, Fotolia or others. But the others started off being all about themselves and you kind of went into it know that with them. ShutterStock slowly changed over the years to be less and less friendly to artists and it's just sad.

Any maybe that's just because 90% of my portfolio on SS is video and not stills. So those of you who are still producers get a better deal and treated better than video producers. But I have a lot of video production friends who feel the same way.

lisafx · « **Reply #18 on:** July 14, 2010, 08:07 »

Thanks for explaining David. You may be right that a lot of the problems you are experiencing are because you submit mostly video. My experience submitting photos has been pretty positive.

This may be a sign that they need to better train their video reviewers.

a.k.a.-tom · « **Reply #19 on:** July 14, 2010, 17:25 »

Quote from: lisafx on July 13, 2010, 13:08

Congrats to SS!! Hope the decide to celebrate by giving us a raise!

LOL LOL you beat me to it Lisafx... when I read the tittle I thought... I'll be a smart butt and ask for a raise... LOL

=tom

lisafx · « **Reply #20 on:** July 14, 2010, 17:35 »

Quote from: a.k.a.-tom on July 14, 2010, 17:25

LOL LOL you beat me to it Lisafx... when I read the tittle I thought... I'll be a smart butt and ask for a raise... LOL =tom

LOL! Great minds (or butts?) think alike

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Author Topic: ShutterStock 7th Birthday (Read 8402 times)

dnavarrojr

disorderly

lisafx

WarrenPrice

lisafx

dnavarrojr

Microbius

picomatic

lisafx

cthoman

michaeldb

disorderly

cathyslife

lisafx

sharpshot

Dreamframer

lisafx

dnavarrojr

lisafx

a.k.a.-tom

lisafx

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